Gar heating system and apparatus



No Model.) B H GOLD 2Sheets-Sheet 1. CAR HEATING SYSTEM AND APPARATUS.

Patented Nov. 14

(No Model.) I 2 Sheets-Shet 2.

I E. H. GOLD.

GAR HEATING SYSTEM AND APPARATUS. No. 508,513. Patented Nov. 14, 1893.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC EGBERT H. coin), or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

CAR-HEATING SYSTEM AND,APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 508,513, dated November 14, 1893.

Application filed August 5, 1892- Serial No. 442,221. (No model.)

- have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Oar-Heating Systems and Apparatus, of which the following is a specifica tion, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan View of a car, showing the arrangement of the heating pipes; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail, being a side elevation of the condensation tank, part being broken away to show the arrangement of the steam pipe inside the tank; and Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail, being a cross section of one of the heating pipes which are carried inside the car.

' My invention relates to systems and apparatus for heating cars, and particularly to steam heating systems and apparatus.

The objects of my invention are to provide new and improved heating apparatus in which means will be provided for receiving the water of condensation, and to provide against the injuring of the heating apparatus by freezing; also to provide for establishing a free circulation throughout the entire system when applied to any number of cars. I accomplish these objects as hereinafter specified and as illustrated in the drawings.

That which I regard as new will be pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the car, of which 2 is the floor or deck. 3 and 4 indicate the usual end platforms.

5, 6, indicate two storage tanks which extend longitudinally of the car under the seats. The adjacent ends of the tanks 5 and 6 are connected by a connecting pipe 7, as shown in Fig. 1. This arrangement is desirable when my improved system is applied to cars commonly used on elevated roads, in which the seats are not all uniform, the seats near the ends of the car extending longitudinally of made with an adjacent car.

gle tank, as 5, may be used insteadof the two tanks 5 and 6.

8, 9, indicate two tanks similar to the tanks 5 and 6, which are placed on the opposite side of the car, beingconnected by an intermediate pipe 10.

ll, 12 indicate valves which are placed in pipes 13 and 14: which extend from the outer ends of the tanks 5 and 6 respectively, and serve to cut off the steamfrom such tanks.

Mounted under the platforms 3 and 4 of the car, preferably transversely of the car, are cylinders 15 and 16, the construction of which is best shown in Fig. 3. The cylinders 15 and 16 are in all respects similar to each other, and it will therefore be necessary to describe only one. The pipe 13 communicates with the cylinder 15, opening thereinto as near the top as can conveniently be arranged, as best shown in Fig. 3.

17 indicates a pipe which affords communication between the tank 8 and the opposite end of the cylinder 15 from that at which the pipe 13 opens into it. The pipe 17 also opens into the cylinder 15 near the top thereof.

18 indicates a pipe, which extends into the cylinder 15 and opens thereinto near the top thereof, as best shown in Fig. 3. The pipe 18 is located a short distance below the top of the cylinder, and is provided with an upturned nozzle 19, which is of such length as to extend to the upper portion of the cylinder, as shown. The length of the pipe 18 is preferably such that the nozzle 19 will come to about the middle of the cylinder. This arrangement of the pipe 18 with reference to the cylinder prevents the entrance of water into the pipe-from the agitation which sometimes results from the motion of the car. The transverse placing of the cylinder likewise tends to keep the-pipes 13 and 17 which enter it at the ends, free, by preventing the surging of the water to either end of the cylinder when the car is stopped or started. The outer end of the pipe 18 is provided with a valve 20; and with the usual hose coupling 21, by means of which connection may be The pipe 14 is in all respects similar to the pipe 13, and atfords communication between the tank 6 and the cylinder 16.

red

22 indicates a pipe similar to the pipe 17, which affords communication between the tank 9 and the cylinder 16.

The construction of the tanks 5, 6, S, 9 is preferably that shown in Fig. 4, in which an interior tube 23 is surrounded by an exterior tube 24. The interior tube is adapted to contain water and the exterior tube serves as a conduit for steam. In using tanks of this construction the exterior tube is connected with the pipes 13, 14, 17, 22, and with the intermediate pipes 7, 10. Steam is supplied to the steam pipes from the locomotive, and enters the cylinder 15 through the pipe 18. It thence passes through the pipes 13 and 17 to the tanks 5 and 8 and to the tank 16 at the other end of the car through the pipes 1i and 22. It thence passes out through a pipe corresponding to the pipe 18 and through the hose coupling to the next car. Any water of condensation is collected in the cylinders 15 and 16. Should the water in the cylinders 15 and 16 freeze, it will be melted by the passage of the steam through the pipe 18. The freezing of the water in the cylinders 15 and 16 if it should occur, would not be destructive, as a sutficient amount of water could not collect in either of them to completely fill them even if the drain pipe which is designed to keep them clear, should fail to operate, because the nozzle 19 on the pipe 18 is somewhat below the top of the cylinders and the water could pass out of this pipe in case the drain should fail to work. It is intended, however, that under ordinary circumstances the water should be drained from the cylinders 15 and 16 by their respective drain pipes, such pipe being designated in connection with cylinder 15 by the figures 25. The cylinders 15 and 16 being situated between the heating apparatus in the car and' the coupling between the cars, intercepts all the Waters of condensation from the car so that none will pass into the coupling. The only Water which can accumulate in the sag of the coupling between the cars, is that which is produced by condensation within the coup ling pipes themselves. And the amount of such water is found by experience to be so small as to dispense with the necessity for any drain pipe or trap directly connected to the couplings themselves.

In the principal use to which my invention is designed to be applied, namely, the heating of elevated railway cars, the waterof c0ndensation cannot be automatically discharged from the apparatus as rapidly as it accumulates as is the case with ordinary railroad cars, but must be caught and retained until the car reaches a suitable point for discharging the same, and to this particular service my receiving tanks are especially adapted. In such systems the amount of condensatien is comparatively large owing to the constant opening of the doors at each end of the car and consequently the sudden changes of temperature therein, and for the same reason the condensation in the apparatus on the different cars varies very materially, as, for instance, upon the front and rear cars of each train only one door of the car is opened at each station, while upon other cars of the train, especially in a long one, the opening of the doors will vary with the number of passengers and their distribution to the various cars of the train.

Now as the heating apparatus on all of the cars is dependent upon a single source ofsupply and the steam must pass successively through the apparatus of each car in the train, the apparatus consequently becomes a complete system for each train and it is of course of the utmost importance that the steam should be supplied as equable as possible to all the cars of the train, and that the water of condensation from all of the cars should be properly disposed of and should not interfere with the steam supply nor yet endan ger the freezing of the apparatus by an unequal distribution thereof.

I am aware that priorto my in vention steam heating systems have been provided with a separator designed to separate the steam from the water of condensation and to catch and retain the same until discharged therefrom, but I am not aware of any system wherein a series of separators or tanks have been employed nor where a series of separators or tanks have been so employed that an excess of the water of condensation cannot remain in any portion of the system but will be antomatically distributed throughout the series of separators so that the excess of condensation in some of the separators will be carried to the others in which the condensation has not reached or exceeded the normal, thus compensating for the unequal condensation taking place in difierent parts of the system; a result which would not be possible where a single tank only is employed in a steam heating system for railway cars wherein the pipes and various apparatus of the system are nonessarily in a horizontal position and in practically the same plane throughout the system. This feature is the broad idea of my invention but myinventionin a more limited sense, also comprises a receiving tank of a special construction whereby this desirable result may be attained. Such, for instance, is the one herein shown anddescribed wherein the inlet and exhaust from the tank are both near the top thereof, the exhaust being so arranged that when the water of condensation reaches the same, it will be carried out of that separator by the action of the steam, through the connecting pipes into the next separator where it may rest and help to fill such separator, or if that separator also be full, then it will pass on through the system until finally reaching a separator which is not yet full. Such a system is of special value in connection with elevated roadsthat do not operate upon a loop at their termi-,

nals but which run the cars back and forth over the route without turning them end for end, as would be the casein the use of aloop, for in such systems the principal condensations would lodge in and till the separators at the rear ends of each car while the train is making a' trip in one direction, while during the return trip the other separators, which are now at the rear ends of the cars, would receive their 'share of the condensations and thus make a practically even distribution throughout the trip and necessitating the emptying of the separators only after each round trip. Hence it will be seen that by reason'of the location of the tank or separator on the adjacent ends of cars, the water of condensation in each car will be caught in the tank at the rear end thereof and under all ordinary conditions no water of condensation will pass into the couplings, which therefore cannot'freeze up, for under such circumstances nothing but, dry steam would pass through them; but even in the case of excessive condensation when the tank at the rear end of the car may become filled, the excess water would pass out of the tank through the coupling hose and into the for- Ward tank on the next car without stopping in the couplings, for under the rapid passage of the steam there through, the comparatively small quantity of water which flows into the couplings would be forced through them by the steam and carried into the next tank at the front end of the next car.

If it is desired to use the tanks on only one side of the car, by closing the valves 11 and 12 steam will pass through the tanks 8 and 9 only.

Instead of steam heating tanks constructed as shown, ordinary steam pipes may be used.

That which I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a car heating system the combination with a series of heating apparatus in the different cars, a series of coupling pipes between the cars and a main steam supplypipe connecting said. couplings, and heating apparatus of a series of horizontal separators located on the cars between each heating apparatus, and coupling pipes, substantially as and for the purpose described- 2. In a car heating system the combination with a series of heating apparatus located on the cars of a train, the coupling pipes between the cars and a main steam supply pipe connecting the coupling pipes and apparatus of each car, of a series of horizontal separators located one at each end'of each .car and between the coupling pipes and the heating apparatus on each car, whereby the steam for the heating apparatus must pass through the separators, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. In a car heating system the combination with a series of heating apparatus in the cars of a train, the coupling pipes between the cars and the main steam supply pipe connecting the coupling pipes with the heatingapparatus, of a series of horizontal separators, one at each end of each car between the heating apparatus and the coupling pipes thereof, said separators consisting of horizontal cylinders for the water of condensation provided with a steam pipe extending about to the center of length of said cylinder and opening thereinto near the upper portion thereof and to which the main supply pipeis connected and also provided with steam pipes entering the ends of said cylinder near the upper portion thereof, said steam pipes forming a connec tion between the heating apparatus and the coupling pipes, substantially as described.

t. In a car heating system the combination with a car, longitudinal heaters at each side thereof, transversely arranged separators at each end of the car and steam supply pipes connecting said heaters and separators, said separators being connected at each end with the heaters at opposite sides of the car and at one end with the coupling pipes, substantially as described.

5. In a car heating system the combination with a car, longitudinal heaters therein at each side of the car, transversely arranged heaters at each end-of the car and steam supply pipes connecting said heaters andseparators, said separators comprising the cylinder 15, steam pipes 18 extending to the center of length of said cylinder and having an upturned nozzle opening thereinto near the upper portion thereof, and another steam pipe connection near the upper portion of said cylinder forming the connection between said condensers and the coupling pipes, substantially as described.

' EGBERT H. GOLD.

Witnesses:

A. H. ADAMS, J. L. JAcKsoN. 

